GRANT: Cake design is art that you can eat

Blame the Cake Boss. Nobody’s happy with plain old Duncan Hines for his or her birthday anymore.

You want to show you really care? A life-sized effigy in butter cream or a chocolate scale model of a ’67 Mustang now seems like the least you can do.

If you don’t have the money — we’re talking two or three grand for some of these edible creations — but do have the time, there’s the Canadian Cake Decorators Guild.

The Halifax chapter was set up about a year and a half ago by Susan Morrison, a trained pastry chef and teacher at Nova Scotia Community College.

“I started it because I had a lot of people getting in touch with me about how do you do this or where do you get that. The main thing we do is share our expertise.”

Meetings typically revolve around a product or technique demo. If you’re thinking pink piped rosettes like the lady in the hairnet at the Dominion bakery department used to make, think again.

How to use electronic cutters or airbrushes. How to make gum-paste bows or sugar bubbles. Even tips on how to photograph your cake to its best advantage. These are just some of the topics the guild covers.

They might sound high-tech but that shouldn’t deter anyone from coming out.

Morrison insists that all you need to get into the hobby is “a little room and an understanding family,” although she does allow that once you catch the decorating bug “you have to sell the cakes so you can afford the tools.”

And although the group’s open to everyone, from shaky-handed beginners to professional decorators, Morrison claims, “A lot of our members could rival anything you see on TV.”

“A lot of them are perfectionists. It can take a week to make gum-paste flowers. Just putting fondant on a cake can take a couple of hours. It’s all in the details.”

But it’s worth it.

“Someone will look at a cake and go ‘Wow’ when they notice the little figures have tiny ears or fingers. I’ve seen people take petals off my flower cakes and nibble them because they can’t believe they’re not real.”

Members are inspired by everything from nature to tattoos to — of course — Kate Middleton.

A quick scan of a few of their Facebook pages would make the Cake Boss himself nervous.

Which leads to the inevitable question decorators are always asked: “How do you feel when you see someone take a knife to one of your masterpieces?”

“I kind of look forward to it,” Angelopoulos says. “I’m done. It’s their cake now. I want them to enjoy it. I get a lot of really good compliments on how it tastes.”

But for Morrison?

“To see it destroyed in an instant is heartbreaking. You’re happy people are enjoying it but there’s always that little cringe inside of you.”